Romania to break jailed writers’ club

Romania said Tuesday it is going to crash the jailed writers’ party by repealing a measure that allows many corrupt politicians and businessmen to reduce their sentences by publishing “scientific works.”

The special provision, which dates back to the Communist era, reduces a convict’s sentence by 30 days for each scientific work they write and publish. But Justice Minister Raluca Prună said the loophole has been abused and must be closed.

The number of so-called scientific works started rising in 2013 in tandem with the number of high-level politicians and businessman sentenced for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. Scientific works produced in jail totaled 340 last year, up from 90 in 2014 and an average of just one a year before 2013, Prună said.

“I decided, given that the phenomenon is completely out of control, to propose” a repeal of this measure, she said.

The government, made up of technocrats and led by Dacian Cioloș, is expected to pass the repeal in February.

The legal loophole transformed many politicians, some of whom only had a basic education, into prolific writers.

Poster boy: George Becali, a shepherd turned businessman, turned football club owner, turned politician, turned member of the European Parliament. Convicted to 42 months in jail in 2013 for paying bribes, he published five books in the past two years. Titles include: “Mount Athos: Homeland of Orthodoxy”; “Steaua [football club] and Becali”; “Becali and Politics: The Beginnings”; “The Merciful and Saving Love”; and “The European Parliament and the Romanian Parliament.” These works saved him five months behind bars. He was released last April.

Even more prolific is Dan Voiculescu, the former leader of Romania’s Conservative party and ally of the former prime minister Victor Ponta.

Voiculescu was arrested in August 2014 and sentenced to 10 years in jail for money laundering and has written 10 books in 18 months. They include: “Humanity, Where to?”; “The Fourth Way”; “The Romanian Economy”; and “A New Theory of Value: Some Considerations Regarding Development of the Theory of Maslow.” His key strokes could save him almost a year in jail.

For works to be declared “scientific” they have to be published by scientific journals or publishing houses recognized by a Romanian research body. This criteria has proved easy to circumnavigate with money and influence.

Separately, the country’s National Anti-corruption Directorate said Tuesday it would investigate the networks created to help high-level convicts get out of jail faster with paper and ink. They include university professors who gave formal recommendations based only on book titles, as well as publishing houses and prisons’ representatives.